Although few anglers have probably experienced it, Steelhead will sometimes take a surface or dry fly. These river steelhead are usually caught swinging a dry fly over a steelhead holding near the surface. Steelhead often follow the fly and sometimes take it at the end of the swing but usually they strike the fly as if it were an intruder.Some anglers swear by certain tactics and techniques but without going into a lot of specifics that relate to specific streams and situations, let us just say that the speed the fly passes over the fish is of utmost importance. If the fly passes through the window of vision of the steelhead at the right speed, the fish may instinctively strike at it. This is sometimes called a reaction strike.It would be rare to get a steelhead to rise to a fly from several feet deep. Most that are caught on dry flies are holding near the tail outs where large boulders and rocks are near the surface.Different surface steelhead flies, or dry steelhead flies have different profiles and create different types of disturbances on the surface of the water. Some larger deer hair flies called walkers create a lot of disturbance. Some are called Skaters that stay on top of the water much like trout dry flies. Larger, traditional dry flies like Stimulators and Royal Wulfs work well in flatter, less turbulent water. Muddler styled dry flies work well in most water.